


After the Leap

by terrawrites



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst, Custom Hawke, Established Relationship, F/M, Heavy Angst, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Here Lies the Abyss, Sorry Not Sorry, if I found I forgot some
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 04:30:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16110836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/terrawrites/pseuds/terrawrites
Summary: Something I wrote about Hawke's last moments in "Here Lies the Abyss" and Fenris' reaction after he received Varric's letter for a prompt exercise in my Creative Writing class.





	After the Leap

**Author's Note:**

> As the summary says this was the result of a prompt exercise from my college Creative Writing class. The prompt I chose was "I told you this was going to happen." because of all the angst vibes it gave me.
> 
> It's been a long time since I've posted on here, I hope to change that! I hope I'm able to post a lot more of my writing here as time goes on and as always, constructive criticism is always welcome! I hope you guys enjoy this!

            She was ragged, bloody, but not yet beaten. Her lips and skin were stained crimson, the unmistakable tang of blood heavy on her tongue and in panted breath. Her body begged, _pleaded_ with her to give in- to embrace her fate but she refused to listen. Her companions had long since gone through the rift, the tear in the seams of their reality and this one sealing behind them. _I’ll stay behind, the world still needs you to help them rebuild_. Her own words rang through her mind, causing her exhausted body to stir anew with the energy to fight, to triumph. She was haggard, she was bloody, she was dying, but she was the Champion of Kirkwall, and she will carry out her duty to the ones she swore to protect. Corypheus was _her_ problem, _her_ responsibility, but now it fell to the Inquisitor to succeed where she failed.

            Sword and shield raised, the ever-present and choking green fog around her, she stared her enemy down once more. In the distance, the shrieks of the demon’s underlings could be heard. She knew that in this place, although their efforts may sound like those of her lost mother, her father, her little brother, they were only reflections of their master’s powers. Her nightmares incarnate. She charged, but despite the vitality of her spirit, her body was too battle-worn. The demon dodged, and with one _crack_ her weapons were no more, her arms now limp and useless at her sides, bleeding like the rest of her body as bits of white bone peaked among the stained silver of her armor.

             “ _I’m sorry Fenris_.” Her words a whisper of breath as the Nightmare bore down upon her.

The letter would come much later, almost exactly a month after the assault on Adamant Fortress. It was a mixture of guilt and difficulty in tracking him down which caused the delay. He recognized the handwriting in an instant, but it wasn’t the one his heart longed to see. She had promised to write him when she reached Skyhold, but this was the first letter to have reached him in months. He had expected a letter from Varric, as he was one of the only individuals capable of tracking him down, but never on its own. It was always supposed to arrive with one from her, one that would tell him how she was doing, and how nice it was to catch up with old friends, and how much she couldn’t wait until she was done and she could come back to him.

            With his heartbeat quickening in dreaded anticipation, he broke the wax seal with trembling fingers. His old nickname crossed out multiple times was the first thing he noticed, his actual name written carefully at the top of the page. He felt his stomach begin to churn with a boiling fear.

_~~Elf Broody~~ _ _~~Fen~~ ~~Brood~~ ~~Broo~~ _

_Fenris,_

_I’m so sorry to have to tell you like this._

            His knees gave way as the first few words knocked the very foundation of his being, leaving it crumbling beneath him in ruins. He cursed each word as he made his way through each and every one at a fraction of the pace. It was clear in the crossed-out lines and constant revisions that it was written to accommodate his shortcomings, even though he had come a long way under Hawke’s guidance from the former slave who couldn’t read. Most words were still a struggle for him. However now it only served to torture him. His own skills were working against him as every word seemed to take an eternity.

            The wind pulled loose strands from where his white hair was tied back down into his face, his tears making the strands stick to his cheeks. It had grown since they fled their home of almost seven years, but they had done it _together_. He knew they had grown older in the three years they spent on the road, _but they had each other_. Her skills were still as sharp as ever, _she wasn’t supposed to go_. _Hawke promised she would come back to him_. “I told you this was going to happen.” He choked upon his grief, his own tears falling to add to the older stains on the letter. “I told you, but you said you had to go anyway. _You always had to be the hero_.”


End file.
